Dawn came earlier than Amaya would have liked, or at least the closest semblance of it.

She didn't recall all too much about how she'd wound up back home, tucked away within the covers of her bed, however she knew she hadn't been relocated here while she'd been asleep. Had she not been coherent enough to turn in for the night herself, she wouldn't have been lying beneath the covers in just her underwear and a random shirt, that of which she could tell just as she was.

What had awoken Amaya was not the sunlight that filtered in through the half-drawn curtains of her window above her head, nor was it the natural way of winding up rested enough to awaken on her own, a sensation she couldn't quite recall in such a weary state.

No, what had awoken her was the sounds of slamming doors and her siblings calls of goodbye as they left for school.

She was at first a little perturbed by the fact that she'd slept in so late, scarcely managing a small scowl as she realized she was starting to make a habit of sleeping through her morning routine more often.

She promised herself that she was going to improve on that, but right now she was too tired to do more than lift the covers over her head and try to fall back to sleep.

It felt like forever since an actual weekend what with the culture festival just passed, and she wasn't inclined to care all that much for class when it was going to be spent mostly trying to ignore the headache caused by flickering after images of Koro-sensei's multitude of visual clones over studying.

Maybe after lunch was an okay time to go into class? Or whenever she wound up waking up again?

However, the rapping of knuckles knocking against the door of her room brought Amaya to inwardly sigh, though she didn't respond.

She pulled the covers more securely over her head, and dragged her pillow firmly over her head to try and block out the repetition that followed just a few seconds later.

She just waved it off as either Yuta or Reiko coming to check on her, since she didn't respond to their farewell just a couple minutes earlier.

Unfortunately however, she soon learned that was one of the worst things she could have done.

It was less than a minute before she heard the faint sounds of the door opening, combined with the sounds of footfalls trailing along towards her position curled up in bed.

'You're still asleep?' Came none other than Karma's voice through the covers and the pillow pressed over her head. 'That's hardly fair, you know.'

Amaya's heart spluttered within her chest as the sound of his voice immediately reminded her of certain incidents that took place the last she was awake, and soon she was starting to feel her face warm up.

No, she'd better keep pretending she was asleep. It was safer for her that way, because she wasn't game enough to deal with him after what had happened.

However, as she heard a faint chuckle escape the evil incarnate, she felt the covers over her legs shift and a hand clamp firmly around her left ankle. Within an instance, Amaya was dragged off of the bed to land roughly on the floor.

She couldn't help the gasp that had escaped her as she hit the floor, nor could she help curling up as she tried to wait out the pain churning its way through her aching side and shoulder.

She was lucky she landed on her left side, and not her right, otherwise she would be in a far worse world of hurt.

'Good morning, Amay~' Karma's amused greeting sounded, and she wasn't the least bit surprised as she heard him crouch down over her slumped form on the floor. 'How long are you going to lay there on the floor?'

'That actually hurt, you know...' She muttered, through comforter and bedding, it came out as a faint whisper.

There was no immediate response, much to her surprise.

'...Are you alright?' He eventually asked.

Okay, he might not have heard her.

'Oww.' She forced out, louder than she would have preferred.

There was a sigh, followed by the shifting of the sheets still covering her form curled up on the floor. And before she knew it, she felt a hand land upon her head and begin to tug the material away from her.

'What did you hurt this time?' Karma questioned with a faint sigh.

What did she hurt?

'You're the damn jerk that dragged me off the bed like that!' She snapped, irritably, as she lifted a hand and dragged the sheet back over her head.

'Amay, I want an answer.' She heard Karma speak before long.

'Go away.'

This time, Amaya could hear the sheer exasperation as he let out a breath, and it didn't help when the evil incarnate didn't heed her demand and leave. Instead, he seemed to just shift his weight on his feet, from what little she could hear through the bedding.

'Are you going to get up?' He eventually asked her.

'When you get out of the room.' She muttered sourly.

'Aren't you just going to go back to sleep?'

This time, Amaya actually pulled the bedding down to fix him with a glare, in spite of the touch of pink that was starting to stain the skin of her face.

'Do you want me to damn well get up or not?!' She snapped tersely. 'You know what I usually sleep in!'

Thankfully, he seemed to take her poor mood as reason enough to let her have her way, though she did see the faint glimpse of surprise that had flashed across his face; He lifted his hands in a show of mock surrender and left the room with no further complaint.

Leaving Amaya to practically groan as she picked herself up off the floor.

It felt like she was running on a handful of hours sleep, body too sore to let her rest when she needed to, among other things. And as she gingerly tossed the bedding onto the bed with a wince, she found herself casting a scowl towards the closet as she decided to get dressed.

She certainly hadn't forgotten the last time he opened her door without knocking and wound up catching her in nothing but her underwear.

Amaya lifted shorts this time and a shirt she could wear, scowling at the fact that she hadn't done her washing in a number of days as she got herself organized. Her thoughts were however, as lack-luster as her current mood, and before long a hefty yawn had her pausing to cover her mouth with a hand.

However, a poorly placed step had her slip as her foot landed upon what felt more like paper than the wood floor of her bedroom, and she crashed sideways into her bed before she could so much as rectify her balance.

A plethora of curses escaped Amaya as she rubbed a hand against the impacted skin of her ribs momentarily, and she promptly fixed a scowl upon the cause of her current misfortune lying innocently on the floor. A book with a faded, once-been orange cover lay splayed on the floor by her bed, its pages crinkled from her poorly placed step just second ago, and it took Amaya perhaps a moment to recognize the cursive handwriting that filled the pages.

One of Genivierre's notebooks.

It was odd, for she certainly didn't recall having been reading at any point since school ended yesterday.

Curiosity amid the irritation brought her to peer down at the pages of Genivierre's handwriting, turning it until she could read the pages. And before long, she found herself realizing why this book had wound up beside her bed.

It was a book about a certain arrogant male she had met just last night, and oddly enough, the book appeared to have very little of its pages filled in, which was a stark contrast to most of the other books.

Day Twelve.

The MEP has failed to render any real boon to the project, acclimatization-wise in any case. Unlike the other projects, it appears that Serio Kei harbors no adaptability to the outlines of the inferno project. In lack of a better term, he is out of place in this system, as if he were merely abducted straight off the streets. Of course, the hereditary nature between parent and child is key for the project, so undeniably, Kei is in fact, Sandra and Toji's biological child.

However, what strikes me more of concern than Kei's lack of adaptation to the project is in fact, his personality thus far. It's of course uncommon for Toji to use a child over the age of six, let alone Kei's own age of ten, but at this point with Amaya's sudden "passing", I feel he's grasping at straws, which would be why he is currently in London at this present moment. Procuring another "mother" for his projects. That doesn't deter from my concerns for Kei's personality, however.

Unlike most children where they are quiet between the throws between the side effects of PTSD and Insomnia, Serio Kei shows no signs of trauma, fear or even the minimal shred of caution at all. He shows no ounce of concern for anyone else, not Mamoru and her worsening condition in the confinement tank opposite to his own or even the whereabouts of his own mother or siblings, unlike every other child to date.

Earlier this morning, Kei demanded that we spend less time on trying to keep Mamoru alive, proclaiming that the boy was useless, and more effort should go to him. I declined of course. It was only a matter of days before I could hand Mamoru to a kind doctor couple in Georgia, a matter of hours before I could arrange a cover feed to tide Toji over without much concern, and hopefully I could ensure another child actually got out of this hellhole alive. My decline of Kei's demands were met with a tantrum most fierce, I feel. It was matched with screaming, kicking and biting when one of our subject hands tried to calm him down without medication, and by the end of it, I had no recourse but to give him a shot of sedative just to get him off of the man in the isolation tank with him. Thirty-seven stitches later, and I had a distraught Yugoslavian filing for his resignation, not that I could blame him.

I just hope he makes it into hiding before Toji tracks him down.

Following this incident, we brought Mamoru out of his confinement tank for some physiotherapy, and afterwards, we let him free in the day-room for some lunch and recreation. It doesn't happen often, but with Toji gone, I thought it would be what the poor boy needed to lift his spirits to make it through to Monday. It was decided that Kei would remain in isolation in punishment for almost ripping a man's throat out. And I felt Mamoru needed the peace. Mamoru never acted out, so we could leave him some peace unobserved. That was my intent when I left him resting there.

However, I had a horrible feeling as I was retrieving the boy's meal for him. So I tried to get back as soon as I could, but Toji called questioning finer details about how the previous storms project ended, and I was held up past hand changeover. And when I finally did return, I was met with the worst of incidents I had ever encountered in my whole life.

The replacement hand had let Kei out without authorization, let him out without even contacting anyone with a request. The replacement was a new, Indonesian woman, heavily accented and with a moral code of her own she followed with no regard to per-determined protocols. And once she'd dropped Kei off in the day room, she shut the door and left to change into her uniform.

I returned to find the sickly boy lying exactly where I'd left him, foamed blood and saliva trailing down his face and Kei, just sitting there on top of his chest, smiling like there was nothing wrong, like his hands weren't still wrapped around the younger child's throat. He had the audacity to actually smile at me and tell me we could give him all our attention now.

There was nothing I could do to save Mamoru, and I swear to God, I really tried. His windpipe had been crushed, pieces of snapped plastic from one of the toys had been forced down his throat by Kei, which lacerated his air passages upon strangulation. The poor child didn't deserve to die in such a cruel fashion, and I was so close to getting him out of here, just like Amaya and Reiko.

Following this, the woman has been placed in a holding cell pending Toji's review of the incident when he gets back in five days, and Kei has been placed in lockdown, restrained and sedated. I still can't shake the screaming when we restrained him entirely. Screams that he was the one suffering, that he was the favorite, the one that did nothing wrong. If he couldn't get out of this facility, then nobody else deserved to.

I don't need Jeremiah's diagnosis on Kei's psychological condition to know there's something horrendously wrong with that boy. All I need to know is that he has no qualms with killing out of selfish desires, and under no circumstances should he be let free in the open world. There are enough cruel people in this world as it is, and I fear what kind of monster he could become if he were just let go.

As of this moment, Toji has essentially wiped his hands clean of the boy simply because he holds no value for the projects, and I won't let him free to a family in the world that might suffer more for trying to save a child. His prospects, unfortunately, aren't looking very good.

And as cruel as this might be, this is the first child I have grown to loathe, and hesitate to want to save.

God, what's wrong with me?

Amaya was silent as she stared down at the book, hesitating, swallowing thickly before she went to turn the page to the next entry.

However, a loud knock at the door sounded, startling the girl so much that she'd dropped the page with a squeak and turned her head in response.

'You didn't go back to sleep again, did you Amay?' Karma's voice sounded from the other side of the door, causing her to sigh as she instead flipped the book shut.

'Of course I damn well didn't.' She muttered sourly as she marched herself to the door and pulled it open. 'Out of the way.'

The redhead obliged, lifting a lone, questioning brow as he sauntered along after her.

'You were taking your time, so I thought you'd probably tried to hide under the bed or something.' He lamented with a dramatic sigh as he buried his hands in the pockets of his pants. 'I bet Koro-sensei's going to drown you in pop-quizzes for how late we are, already.'

'You could have just gone on your own.' She muttered sourly.

'And let you skip all on your own? I don't think so.'

'Like I care.' She scoffed, slamming the bathroom door shut behind her.

What made it all the more annoying for her was the obvious sound of a thoughtful hum on the other side of the door.

'You're in a bad mood. Much more than usual, anyway.' Karma's muffled voice echoed through the door. 'Is it that time of month for you?'

'Mind your own fucking business, you jerk!' Amaya snapped, not only indignant, but horrified by the question itself.

The sound of dispersing footsteps echoed through the door, and it was all Amaya could do to sigh and wash up.

'Where the hell did that question come from...?' She muttered sourly. 'It's not his damn business...'

It wasn't, and while it was more so uttered as a taunt, it didn't fail to agitate her quite considerably.

Another sigh tumbled from Amaya's lips as she reluctantly lifted her head to appraise herself in the mirror, scowling at the obvious signs of her sleep deprivation showing across her face.

She really wasn't getting much sleep these days...

And it appeared she probably wasn't going to have much success in that regard any time soon.

So, with a soft sigh and a sharp slap to her face to try and wake her up a little more, Amaya left, scooping up her bag and marching past a remarkably silent Karma waiting for her at the front door. He didn't appear all that intent on annoying her on the trip up to the classroom, merely throwing the odd jab here or there as if gauging her mood, however twice, he'd of course had to catch her by the arm when she misplaced a step, like usual.

Obviously her attempt at waking herself up hadn't worked too well.

Octopus' multiplied, tormenting the students with an endless barrage of flickering after images and textbook conundrums, reducing Amaya's capacity to concentrate quite considerably before the end of first period. No amount of pleas from Amaya for Koro-sensei to stop producing more duplicates came to fruition, and in fact, the octopus only proceeded to ramp up the tutoring with more duplicates, much to her obvious displeasure. She didn't see the pictures Koro-sensei was waving at her, the graphical translation of math questions for her onto handheld whiteboards, nor the various costumes that Koro-sensei was wearing yet again.

All she saw were flashes of yellow among the classroom backdrop, so fast and vivid that it actually made her nauseous and rather dizzy.

And by the end of second period, she had barely managed to retreat to the nearest cubicle in the girls restroom before she threw up.

Granted, Koro-sensei was trying to teach her with picture imaging and all those other techniques he surmised would work with her now that he knew what her learning worked best with, but that didn't change the fact that she needed to concentrate on the images to commit them to mind. Even when Karma decided to harass her with tutoring on strange, torturous days, he still didn't rip the drawn example away for at least a few minutes. Isogai was the best to learn from, because he did not so much as touch a drawn image until she said he could.

Flickering aside, Koro-sensei changed each of his picture examples at least once every thirty seconds, which defeated the purpose altogether. Even if she were properly rested, she still doubted she'd be able to follow that quickly, anyway.

There really was no helping her with the studying this time if it was going to mess with her so much.

A faint groan escaped the albino as she managed to straighten up on her feet and lean back against the wall of the cubicle. Her hand had lifted to wipe roughly at her mouth, and she took several deep breaths as she tried to get her sloshing mind to stop; Maybe then, the nausea would slow, too...

'A-Amaya-san?' A voice spoke up from outside the cubicle, Okuda's in fact if she recognized it right. 'Are you alright?'

This felt remarkably like deja vu, back on that boat where she had wound up retreating due to panic-induced nausea.

'Yeah...' Amaya sighed, swallowing thickly as she tried to clear her throat from the bile a little. 'Just fine, don't worry.'

There was silence on the other side of the door, before the bespectacled girl seemed to speak up once again.

'Are you feeling nauseous?' She questioned.

'Yeah, but I'm fine, really.'

'...Is it because of Koro-sensei's duplicates?' Okuda asked.

What...?

'...How could you tell?' Amaya couldn't help but ask.

'W-well, I couldn't.' Came Okuda's response, though Amaya remained silent as she waited for the girl to continue. 'But... I get the same problem if I don't have my good pair of glasses on, because having to concentrate on Koro-sensei's flickering puts more strain on my eyes... The optometrist says it's a stronger version of an ocular migraine...'

Amaya was pensive, slowly absorbing Okuda's explanation as she remained leaned against the cubicle wall.

'Amaya-san... your older brother needs glasses, doesn't he?' Okuda questioned.

'Yeah...'

That was something he got from Toji, who Amaya remembered to have always worn glasses, too.

'...Do you think you need glasses? O-or contacts I guess? I mean... you seem to have trouble with target practice, too...'

'...Probably... Unfortunately. I've kind of suspected it for a while...' Amaya sighed as she looked up at the ceiling above her head. 'Yuta's eyesight is hereditary from our father... and my achromatosis may be part of it for me, too...'

But like hell she was going to openly wear glasses around other people, especially Karma. She'd rather deal with sticking contacts in her eyes for the rest of her life than provide him with yet another thing to pick on her for. He'd eventually find out anyway, but if she could keep this under wraps for at least a month or so, he'd have less opportunity to mock her for it when he would find out.

And besides, she didn't even know where she should go to even get that looked at. She wasn't the one who took Yuta to get his eyes tested, or to even pick up his glasses.

That was Nishimura...

'U-umm...I-if you want, I can show you where I get my glasses from...' Okuda's voice on the other side of the door jostled Amaya right out of her train of thought as if she'd been shocked. 'The optometrist my mom takes me to is very good... I don't know myself, but she says it's the cheapest place she knows of, too.'

Well... it looked like this was probably the best time to sort this out, she guessed.

Though she didn't look forward to dealing with these problems until she could get a resolution sorted out.

'Actually, I'll take you up on that. But umm...'

'I won't tell anyone.' Okuda promptly offered.

That wasn't actually what Amaya was going to say, but that was appreciated none the less.

'Then, after class did you want to go?' Okuda offered.

'Yeah, thanks... I really appreciate it.'

'Th-that's quite alright!' Okuda's response was prompt, and much louder than her words beforehand, with the strangest dusting of energy, as if she were suddenly quite excited about the whole ordeal. 'I'm happy to help!'

Shy, hesitant to speak, and yet here she was actually seeming excited to be helping Amaya out that afternoon, as if it were an opportunity she was delighted to be given. It was peculiar, and yet, Amaya found herself comfortable enough to shrug it off.

Unfortunately, Koro-sensei's faint, far off exclamation of the two girl's continued absence to third period was quick to cross their skewed discussion off. With a faint groan from Amaya and a flustered squeak from Okuda, they soon returned to the classroom for the third hour of grueling tutoring. However, upon seeing Amaya's paler than normal face and joining the dots, Koro-sensei didn't necessarily reprimand the two.

But of course, that didn't end the nightmare of mach-speed tutoring, and it was all Amaya could do to sit at her desk without lifting her head to look at Koro-sensei. Complaints peppered with blunt remarks from Amaya aside, soon she was shoving her belongings into her bag at the end of sixth period, hoping more than anything else to escape before Karma wandered back from his current endeavor to blackmail something out of Koro-sensei at the front of the classroom. She was luckily safe from another dash for the girls restroom, but only just; She was still feeling a little nauseous.

'W-we should probably leave now...' Okuda whispered to Amaya, who was well and truly in agreement with her remark.

'Oi! Maya-chan!' Came Maehara's call as he came walking right up to Amaya's desk. 'Wanna go grab a bite to eat at Yuuma's work?'

Oh hell...

'I can't.' Amaya deadpanned.

'What?! Come on, Maya-chan, you're not being antisocial again, are you?' The playboy complained. 'That's not good for you, ya know. And we haven't hung out in forever!'

'I told you I can't.' Amaya deadpanned. 'And I really have to go before Karma notices.'

'Ohhh!' Maehara grinned. 'Can I come?'

'No.'

'What?! But why not?!'

'A-actually, Maehara-kun, I asked Amaya-san to come down to the mall with me today...' Okuda spoke up, paling quite considerably as the playboy in mention promptly turned his attention upon her. 'I-I'm sorry...'

'Oh, well in that case that's all good, Okuda-chan.' Maehara chuckled slightly as he ruffled the girl's hair briefly with one hand. 'I'll just annoy Maya-chan tomorrow, instead. At least she isn't being antisocial!'

'O-oh...'

'On that note actually, Hiroto-kun, I really have a favor to ask of you.' Amaya hedged as she cast a discrete glance towards Karma at the front of the classroom. 'Mind finding some way of holding Karma up so I can get out of here in peace? I just need a damn afternoon without his taunts and remarks pissing me off.'

Maehara blinked momentarily, before a rather bright smile spread right across his face.

'Will you tell me why you need this afternoon off, later?' He asked her.

'...Later, only if you swear not to tell anyone. And you'd better not laugh when I tell you, either.'

'Of course, done and done! Leave this to your best brick wall!' Maehara proclaimed.

And before Amaya even had a chance to say a word, or even facepalm over her friend's self-proclaimed title, the playboy had stepped away, grabbing a nearby Mimura and Okajima by the backs of their shirts as he approached Karma and the rather perturbed Koro-sensei at the front of the classroom.

'Oi! Karma-kun, what are you talking to Koro-sensei about? Looks kinda interesting!' Maehara called out, promptly earning most of the attention in the room.

'Right, let's just get the hell out of here.' Amaya murmured as she slung her bag over her shoulder. 'He'll be all over this the second he realizes something's up.'

There was no verbal response from the girl, but Amaya heard Okuda's brisk footsteps following along right behind her none the less.

The descent down the mountain was uneventful and filled with silence, one that was moderately comfortable to sit within. Okuda lead the way, glancing back at Amaya every now and then to check the girl was still following. An email was sent to Karma once they'd reached the foot of the mountain, telling him that she was hanging with Okuda, simply because he'd once admitted that not knowing where she was actually made him uncomfortable, given her hospitalization, record. He wasn't getting anything more than that, though.

Fingers traced the ribbing throughout the strap of her messenger bag as the two walked through streets familiar to Amaya, past a familiar gym with an excessively friendly duo waving out to greet Amaya with demands that she not only stop in again soon but hand over a certain acorn ramen recipe neither girls had, past streets where stalkings and attempted kidnappings took place, onwards through to the furthermost parts of the district until they reached a quaint little arcade along a different train line.

Here, Okuda lead the way through, veering towards the right side, where a modestly decorated optometrist stood in a secluded corner nearby a pharmaceutical store and a small set of benches surrounding a small garden bed. It was surprising, and the whole shopping arcade felt rather pleasant to wander through. Amaya made a mental note to stop by here on a day alone and actually look through properly.

But for the time being, she followed along obediently as Okuda wandered inside the small optometrist clinic.

An overhead bell chimed, rousing the immediate attention of a store clerk stacking a collection of pocket-sized boxes up on a shelf.

'Oh, why hello Okuda-san.' The woman greeted pleasantly as she quickly shoved the boxes in their needed alcove. 'How can I help you today? Your regular checkup isn't due until at least after Christmas.'

'U-umm, well, we're not here for me...' Okuda hedged as she cast a sheepish smile up at Amaya's silent form standing behind her. 'My friend would like a checkup?'

Amaya almost scoffed at the way the bespectacled girl seemed to trip over the word "friend" as if she were unsure of what it actually meant, but managed to keep her mouth shut.

'Oh, of course.' The woman remarked with little hesitation.

It was fairly straight forward in honesty, once the so called paperwork and formalities were over and done with. Okuda sat patiently, glancing over the different frames in the clinic while Amaya was put through the works. The tests were a lot more ... expansive than she'd expected, from general clarity tests through to eye health, so on, so forth. In fact, the optometrist opted for another set of tests involving light sensitivity purely because Amaya happened to be the first albino they had the opportunity to examine.

Novelty aside, Amaya was not the least bit disappointed when they were finished with her.

The end result; Apparently, Amaya was in dire need of corrective lenses, and the optometrist was horrified she'd been living with vision as "poor" as hers for so long. The remark itself felt rather poor, considering that nothing about Amaya's vision felt wrong until the man put together a test pair of glasses, and she found herself realizing that yes, her vision actually was blurry.

'You're near-sighted.' The optometrist clarified in the end. 'That's not including the issues that astigmatism in your right eye is causing you. You'll have to wear some form of lenses for both reading and outdoor activities. And by all means, when you're old enough to get your drivers license, you must wear an in-date set at all times.'

Amaya curbed the immediate string of bitter words from escaping her as she was ushered out of the back room to where Okuda was still peering over the frames on display.

'Right, I got it.' She responded.

'So! You'll have to pick out a pair of frames and we'll get the lenses made up to script.' The man announced as he handed the papers to the receptionist who'd greeted Okuda. 'It will fix your troubles with schoolwork, which is important for you at this time of the year.'

'No, just contacts, please.' Amaya corrected.

The optometrist looked oddly surprised by her words.

'Katsuragi-san, I understand you may be apprehensive about wearing glasses all of a sudden, but contact lenses will be more expensive in the long run, and a lot more work to maintain.' The optometrist explained patiently, as if he were dealing with a small child that didn't understand what they were asking for. 'I recommend glasses for your schooling situation.'

'I understand that, but I want the contacts instead.' She reaffirmed.

'Even with contacts, Katsuragi-san, you still need a pair of glasses for between contacts inserts. It's extremely unhealthy to wear contacts without taking them out.'

Why did it feel like she was having arguments with every adult she needed something from?

Guess she'd better be excessively blunt to get this over and done with...

'Look, Sensei, I get that, honestly.' Amaya began with a heavy breath, turning to fix the Optometrist with as serious an expression she could manage. 'But it's as simple as this; I am actively involved in a lot of contact sports. I need actual contact lenses over glasses because with my lifestyle, a pair of glasses will wind up smashed within a week.'

The man standing before her actually paused mid-way through the beginning of a response.

'We can arrange some heavier sports-frames for sports like basketball--'

Guess she had to embellish her activities a bit with what Daniel was hoping for her to volunteer to learn, considering his beliefs that she'd be a vicious student beneath Clarissa's teachings.

Not that Amaya was against learning a proper martial arts, in any case.

'Actually, it's Capoeira.' Amaya interrupted, much to the man's honest surprise.

'C-Capoeira...?' The man repeated, confused and perhaps a little startled.

And in fact, it wasn't just the optometrist, but Okuda was fixing her with that very same look. Guess that's what she got for picking a lesser known martial arts.

'It's an afro-brazillian martial art that requires a lot of acrobatics and dance. Lots of backflips and turns, kinda thing.' Amaya answered, utilizing one of Daniel's many explanations. 'Not to mention that sparring kind of comes with the territory, too.'

Not to mention her own street-fighting, the few taekwondo techniques Daniel wanted her to adapt, plus everything else that takes place during PE. All in all, she was doomed to lose glasses.

It was a few seconds worth of silence before the man decided to speak.

'...Contacts would be best in your case, then.' He relented and quickly cast his attention towards the many racks of frames. 'But it is still beneficial for you to have a pair of frames for use at home.'

Fine. She could accept that, and she relented with a brief nod in response.

'Perfect, I'll leave you to pick your frames, and our receptionist can handle the rest for you.' The man announced as he disappeared back into the other parts of the clinic.

'Great...' Amaya grumbled, irritably.

'H-here, Amaya-san.' Okuda spoke up with a shy smile as she lifted a pair of frames she had found while she was waiting. 'Did you want to try these on?'

Wordlessly, she took the pair of frames and slid them onto her face with little more than a hum of agreement.

The frames were thin, but a solid rim of black plastic in the shape of ovals, immediately making Amaya feel utterly ridiculous as she peered at her reflection in a nearby mirror. And judging by the rather shocked look across Okuda's face as she quickly put those frames back on the shelf and veered for a completely different style, she agreed that they probably weren't the best pair for her, either.

This was repeated with a number of different pairs all ranging in colours, until Amaya was left scowling at the racks of glasses she'd been perusing through.

'I don't think I'm suitable to pick things for myself...' Amaya sighed as she put the twelfth pair back on the shelf. 'Yuta and Reiko usually handle this for me...'

Okuda seemed to pause for a second, her shy demeanor completely evaporated as she turned to cast Amaya an appraising glance through a pair of different frames she'd been trying on at the time.

'You don't usually pick your own clothes or accessories?' She inquired, curiously.

'I only throw on what's comfortable to brawl in if I can help it.' Amaya huffed as she roughly placed the large blue frames onto the shelf. 'What's the point in learning any of that rot when most of what I already wear are going to wind up bloodied or torn within a week?'

Okuda was silent for a moment, pulling her proper pair of glasses back on as she seemed to think on that for a moment.

But for Amaya, she was inwardly cursing about how upfront she was being with the girl about aspects of her personality she hadn't even admitted to Maehara or Isogai about. Granted, it was because they undoubtedly already guessed it from their many interactions with her, but the fact that she was voicing things without even having to wrangle it out of her like she normally would, was a bit disconcerting.

'Then, would it be okay if I pick something for you?' Okuda eventually voiced, bringing Amaya to promptly turn her attention back towards her bespectacled companion. 'I-I mean, only if you want to! I'm not trying to be overly forward or anything!'

Huh, seemed like she tripped herself back into her shy nature.

'Honestly, that would save me a lot of trouble.' Amaya dismissed with a sigh, much to Okuda's surprise.

'R-really?'

'Yeah, but just not red, please.' Amaya relented, running a hand roughly through her hair left loose from her hair band. 'That asshole will mock me for weeks if he catches me wear anything noticeably red.'

Okuda hesitated, but nodded all the same as she quickly turned back towards the racks of frames in the store.

Their stay there at the optometrists clinic was moderately short after that. Okuda had managed to pick out a pair of glasses Amaya didn't immediately wince at, a pair of oval lens half-frames on the top in a burgundy, because the bespectacled girl had explained that purple definitely makes her look very mean, black conflicts too much with her albino features, and out of all the rest of the colours, they didn't come in this particular frame.

It was agreed upon, because technically they weren't read, they were more of a purple on that gamut. And by the end of it, Amaya found they didn't look too bad on her.

So, after paying for both the glasses and the attached contact plus supplies in full, much to a horrified receptionist, Amaya and Okuda parted ways. The bespectacled girl had departed with a much more vibrant smile than Amaya was used to seeing, and Amaya left with the knowledge of her eventual return in three days to pick up, since apparently the optometrist himself actually made a large portion of the ocular instruments in-store.

It wouldn't be in time to ward off the bulk of Koro-sensei's agonizing clone imaging, but perhaps she'd be able to suffer less in the future.

At the very least, Amaya wandered home in the late afternoon light knowing all too well just how blurry her eyesight actually was. And it agitated her, because she'd at least hope it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it was.

By the time Amaya had arrived back home with a couple bags of shopping hanging from her left arm, the sun was beginning to set in the distance, and she was well and truly dead to the world. She wanted nothing more than to cook dinner for her siblings and go straight to bed.

However, it appeared plans had gone a little awry for her in the time it took for her to get home.

Upon dragging her sorry ass through the front door, Amaya noticed in familiar, Reiko habit that there was a note plastered to the wall next to the door, informing Amaya of the absence of her three siblings; They were spending the night at Mako's place, as they had some group projects to work on, and Samuel being the attention-seeking child he was, refused to stay home while the siblings were having fun. And secondly, the house was almost completely dark, save for the lone light in the kitchen illuminating the surroundings just a little.

She sighed as she kicked the door shut behind her, dropping her messenger bag carelessly to the floor as she kicked off her boots.

'Guess nobody's home...' She muttered.

'Is that what you think?' A voice spoke up from right over her shoulder.

And with a startled yelp, Amaya put all of her strength into swinging the bags of shopping at their head.

She missed with just the faint grazing of the heavier bag across the front of their face, and in response she heard a faint gasp escape whoever the hell it was there. However, her fright was quickly replaced with indignation as she heard none other than Karma's own amused chuckling echo through the darkness of her house. Along with Koko's chirps from his cage at the sound of his owners return home.

'What the actual fuck, Karma?!' Amaya seethed as she quickly backed away from the evil incarnate who'd evidently been standing in the space behind the door to pull this jump-scare on her. 'Don't do that!'

'It's not my fault you're jumpy.' The redhead snickered as he leaned over to turn the overhead light on. 'I left my shoes out in the open and everything.'

How was she supposed to see that when most of the lights were off?!

Regardless, he didn't give her much of an opportunity to argue; He quickly pried the handles of the shopping bags from her grasp and wandered off towards the kitchen to pry, with his ongoing amusement sounding in familiar snickers. It was entirely possible though that he was removing the makeshift weapons from her person, too.

'I swear you're going to end up scaring me to death at this rate...' Amaya huffed as she followed along after him, brow furrowed as she eyed his oddly bright smile.

'You're more than welcome to try and haunt me if I do.' He responded.

'Like hell I'd even consider haunting you.' She muttered, carelessly dropping herself into one of the barstools standing on the other side of the island. 'That'd be asking for a second horrific death.'

'You're masochistic enough to do that.'

'Keep your delusions to yourself, please.' Amaya didn't miss the pointed frown he cast at her before he practically dropped her bags of shopping onto the counter. 'You just killed the eggs, I bet.'

'You're being dramatic.' He dismissed.

Thankfully, Amaya had enough restraint to keep herself quiet.

But then, a knock at the door sounded, drawing a faint groan from the albino as she dragged herself back out of her seat.

'Door, Amay.' Karma "helpfully" informed her.

'I damn well know that, you jerk.' She complained as she went to answer it. 'I swear if that's Reiko forgetting her damn keys again, I'm going to confiscate the damn things...'

Needless to say, she was too tired for any more irritations.

However, what was on the other side of the door was something she really hadn't expected.

She glanced out the window beside the door, blinking momentarily as she found that there was a silhouette that did not look remotely like Reiko, or any person she even knew. Indeed, if it weren't for her turning the outside light on and spotting a young man dressed in ... work overalls?

She didn't know what to do about this.

However, Amaya let out a breath and hesitantly unlocked the deadbolt and pulled the door open.

'Good evening, I'm very sorry about the late visitation, but is this the residence for Katsuragi Amaya-san?' Came the upbeat voice of the twenty-something year old man holding a clipboard and pen, smiling cordially at Amaya's puzzled form as she looked up at him. She could see now that his overalls were emblazoned with the trademarks of a delivery company she vaguely had any recollection of, and just behind him, there was a trolley of boxes standing unmanned on the ground, with a delivery van parked on the verge outside her gate.

This, was unexpected.

Only on very rare occasions did unexpected deliveries ever turn up, even back at the apartment. And the last delivery she received was actually a traumatic prank dished out by the evil incarnate currently watching from the kitchen island, which was the cause of Yuta's previous role of collecting the mail from the apartment building foyer.

'Who's asking?' Amaya couldn't help the defensive edge that had crept into her tone of voice.

'Ah, so I do have the right residence, then?' The delivery man stated with a relieved grin. 'I'm glad. I had to ask directions from a boy about your age ten houses down the street.'

Oh how wonderful.

She was almost certain Asano Gakushuu loathed the unexpected and lost delivery man turning up on his front doorstep, asking for her of all people.

'As I'm sure you have guessed, I have a delivery for Katsuragi-san, I'm assuming that would be you.'

'From who?' Amaya asked, once again avoiding the task of answering his question.

'Oh? Let me just see here...' For whatever it was worth, the delivery man appeared to brush aside her prickly mood as if she'd offered a candid response instead. His gaze scanned the papers of his clipboard for a brief moment. 'Well, the delivery was sent from Okinawa by one Mizumoto Haruto-san for same-day courier delivery. I was instructed that it had to be delivered today, but you see, I got a little lost on the way here.'

Immediately, Amaya's jaw went slack as she was slapped with the sender's name like a shovel against the side of her head.

Haruto ... sent it?

Amaya's thoughts were promptly rerouted to the incident the previous night with Kei, where the ravenette had taken a particularly cold edge to his attitude towards her, whether or not her reaction at the time was warranted.

'In any case, since I have the right address, can I just get you to sign for this? And I'll just be on my way.'

'Y-yeah...' She muttered, too stunned by the peculiar turn of events to divert the questions.

After a brief search for the seal stamp she vaguely recalled Shigure having left her along with the paperwork when she first arrived at this house, the delivery was signed for and brought inside. With a parting farewell from the deliveryman, he was gone, and Amaya was left with the puzzling presence of four boxes sitting on her dining room table. Four remarkably large boxes that took up nearly all the surface space of her table, in fact.

However, she hesitated to even open one, much to Karma's impatience.

'Aren't you going to open them?' He asked her.

'Shut up...' She cursed.

'They aren't going to open themselves~'

Amaya practically scowled at the boxes as her red-haired companion snickered at her reluctance.

'Don't tell me you're scared of opening mystery deliveries, Amay~'

'If I am, it'd be your damn fault, you jerk!' She snapped, indignantly.

There was silence at first as Amaya located an envelope attached to one of the boxes and tugged it off, though before long she heard a faint sigh and brief muttering of "oh." escape him as he wandered over from the kitchen island.

'I'll open them for you, then, if you're that bothered.' He dismissed as he foraged through his pockets for a folding knife.

She didn't even question why he had such an item on him, and carefully began to open up the envelope inside. Instead, she just let him do what he wanted, since she really didn't want to open the boxes herself, anyway.

Within the envelope was a rather small piece of paper, written with some of the most formal handwriting she had ever seen on a piece of paper. She ignored the sounds of tearing tape and ripping cardboard as her gaze traced the characters carefully, brow furrowing all the more with every passing second.

Ah, yes, she was actually squinting to read this.

How long had she been having this much trouble and not even realized it?

Mizumoto-Katsuragi Amaya.

I write this to inform you that the actions of Kei last night have not gone by unknown by myself. Under no circumstances had I given him authorization to interact with you, and as such his transgressions are being dealt with severely.

As with this past incident, I cannot however guarantee that he will not happen to meet with you again in the future, and as such, I have provided you with direct contact information to use, should you feel your safety is not guaranteed within his presence.

The following boxes contain gifts I have sent as an apology for what I understand was an unpleasant incident.

If such an incident occurs again, do not allow his guile to ensnare you into any further trickery.

Kind regards,

Mizumoto Haruto.

What was attached on an additional piece of paper was a set of contact information, that of which she paid little heed to at that second. Instead, a breath escaped Amaya as she lowered the brief letter and gazed upon the now-opened boxes sitting on the table.

If she hadn't read that entry in Genevierres journal, she wouldn't have really understood exactly what Haruto was insinuating with the strict separation he'd apparently had placed between herself and Kei.

But... there was no way she could misinterpret it, now.

Amaya discarded the letter now that the boxes were opened, scarcely taking note of where the evil incarnate had wandered off to as she carefully pulled open the nearest box before her.

Within was nothing much that she could really discern other than it containing edible things. Jars of conserve, pickled delicacies and packets of what looked to be coloured powder stood out most predominantly from within the box. They bore designs that were the slightest bit recognizable to Amaya in a vague way, a nostalgic undertone against a mostly peculiar box.

She paid no attention to wherever it was Karma was, simply letting out a breath as she flipped open the lid of another box to find herself gazing upon other various consumables of little interest. However, as a hand dipped into her field of vision and lifted a bottle of what appeared to be some kind of coarse powder, she heard a rather impressed hum sound on the air.

'Does this other Uncle of yours do a lot of traveling, Amay?' She faintly heard Karma ask her.

'I don't know.' She muttered in response, entirely disinterested with the contents of the second box; Therefore, she moved to the third. 'Why?'

'Nothing. Just not even my parents bring this kind of stuff back.' Karma remarked with a smug glint in his expression. 'I think my mom would even fight you to get her hands on this~'

'And?'

There was no immediate response, but she'd heard him snicker as he held the bottle he'd picked up out towards her, which turned out to be some kind of poshly designed bottle. She certainly couldn't read the label, since it was in a language she'd never seen before.

'This is hideously expensive, you know~' The evil incarnate told her as she tugged the bottle right out of his grip and put it on the table out of his immediate reach. 'For someone as high-strung over money like you, you seem to have filthy rich uncles.'

Amaya didn't hesitate to shoot the mischievous boy a scathing look, one of which he paid no heed to as he reached past her to lift another item from the top of the nearest box.

'Do you have to do that?' She ground out.

'Hmm? Do what?' Karma taunted.

'That bad habit of going through anything I own, I mean!' Amaya griped, bitterly, as she tried in vain to swipe what was a large bag of a type of spice out of his grip.

'I'm curious.' He dismissed.

'That's not an excuse!' She snapped as she managed to latch a hand around the bulk of the bag and attempted to tug it straight from the redhead's grip.

'It's not my fault whatever you own happens to be rather interesting.' He quipped, tightening hold.

'How the hell is this interesting?!'

'Because I don't know what's in here, of course.'

Of course he didn't know, neither did she, but it didn't matter either which way. It was the principle that he always invited himself to peruse her belongings when she found it such a taboo to do, and she certainly would never go through the redheads belongings without permission, especially with him standing right there to witness it.

But of course there were always certain liberties he took with her, and this was no exception.

'God damn it, would you cut that out?!' Amaya snapped as the evil incarnate reached around her to lift another item from the front of the box, more annoyed with his incessant interference than the fact that he was practically standing with her chest-to-chest in order to get around her. 'I swear I'm going to hit you if you keep pissing me off!'

But of course, he just snickered as he lazily withdrew his hand, which hadn't failed to grasp hold of another unmarked bag from the top of the box.

'You're always mad.' He stated with little restraint as he waved the bag near her face. 'I think it's safe to say even now, your remarks and threats don't mean much to me anymore.'

'They never meant anything to you to begin with!' She rebuked.

'Only because you never act on the ones you throw at me.' He didn't hesitate to remind her.

And out of spite, Amaya decided to prove him wrong.

She was quick and vicious as she threw herself forward to sock him in the gut, and she inwardly swore as he reacted quick enough to back away. He narrowly got his arms up to block her strike, but the pained chuckle that escaped him certainly didn't fail to show that her attempted punch had hurt none the less.

That small glimpse of surprise that had been across his face at first had melted away to amusement as he stepped back and gingerly massaged his right forearm, where her strike had contacted.

'Well that was harsh.' He snickered as he eyed her volatile glare. 'You weren't even holding back.'

'Like I care!' She snapped as she quickly tugged the bag out of his grip and tossed it back into the box, along with the one he'd dropped when she went to punch him.

'You should.' He responded with a heavily exaggerated sigh. 'I think that's going to bruise.'

He was clearly trying to bait her, but unfortunately for whatever plan he had floating inside his head, she wasn't going to give him the opportunity to corner her into anything.

She stepped away from him with a worsening scowl as she turned to fold the box shut once again, trying in vain to pretend that the infuriating male wasn't annoying her with the presence of that obvious smirk of his. It worked at first at least, and as she managed to seal the boxes back up out of petulance, she heard him seem to step away from her with a sigh.

Seem being the appropriate word.

As Amaya shifted to cast him as discrete a glance as she could over her shoulder, she flinched as she was forcefully pushed back against the table. Several changes had taken place in the fraction of a second she'd been startled, and in spite of herself, she honestly didn't understand what was even going on.

'I can't believe I have to be this direct with you.' Karma's taunting comment came with an edge of snickering as he loomed well over her startled form, invading her personal bubble far worse than any instance she had encountered in the past. 'If I didn't know you so well, I'd think you were doing this on purpose.'

Alarm was her closest emotion, followed closely by sheer embarrassment as her mind began to piece together the small fragments that she could grasp. The tabletop behind her was pressed firmly into the backs of her legs, or rather, she was pressed firmly against it and she'd barely managed to get an arm back to catch herself before she fell over. Hands were pressed into the wooden surface behind her, those that were not her own in fact, and a vivid shade of red had begun to prickle the tender skin of her face as she found herself almost nose-to-nose with the evil incarnate currently smirking down at her. She could feel his breath faintly brush against her cheek, the warmth of his arms grazing against her sides and his legs pressing firmly against her own to keep her in place.

It was this instance of close proximity, of familiar warmth and the panicked racing of her heart that reminded her of last nights incidents in fine detail. It had, for the most part, evaded her mind since she'd had to deal with Koro-sensei's mach-speed hell, absent well and truly ever since she'd gone glasses shopping with Okuda downtown.

And it appeared Karma was well aware of this small fact and intended to remedy that at all costs.

'Wh-what the hell--? You're way too close!' Amaya gasped as she scrambled to put more distance between them, but every time she managed a couple inches of distance, he promptly leaned more towards her to negate it.

'You didn't have any problem with it last night, Amay.' He taunted her.

His remark didn't fail to make the redness to her face worsen considerably.

'I have a problem with it now!' She squeaked out as she tried in vain to lift a hand and forcibly push him away from her; He merely grabbed her appendage and pinned it firmly to the wooden surface of the table beneath her.

Why the hell was he getting so damn close?!

She was going to end up dying from the embarrassment!

'Heh, you're getting awfully upset about this, Amay~' He chuckled, practically grinning from ear to ear as he leaned just that little bit closer towards her. 'Is there something you're not telling me?'

She bit her lip; She didn't trust herself to speak right now.

And as he shifted to close the distance between them, Amaya's breath caught in her throat and she screwed her eyes shut tight.

However, what greeted her was not the sudden presence of lips against her own, but a brief contact against her forehead, the last thing she honestly had expected in the throws of her panic.

Amaya cracked an eye open as she heard a chuckle escape Karma as he pulled away and stepped right away from her, stunned and undeniably confused as she realized what had actually happened.

'H-huh?' She uttered dumbly.

'You get your wish, Amay~' Taunted the redhead as he sauntered away from her, wandering lazily towards the spare room he'd long since claimed as his own. 'Thanks for the entertainment, though~'

There was no further comment, no explanation or anything else that could give her any understanding of what had happened.

However, Amaya's disbelief soon boiled over into mortification as she realized with cold, vicious understanding that he'd just spent that whole time teasing her, and her reaction was a far cry from her reaction the night before.

With a screeching, whole-hearted shriek of "Die, asshole", Amaya tore after Karma as fast as she could sprint and tackled him straight into the hard wood floors with a thud.

---=[Authors Notes]=---

Hello everyone, here's Loki-Roki with an update for Marionette (At long last). I have no explanation for the lack of updates other than "Life". Those small pockets of updates I've managed on Instagram were more just letting some of you that have added me on there know that I am in fact, still alive, somewhat. I will be going through, answering everyone's comments on my works soon, trust me. I've just got to get onto the pages and start typing away.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter and everything, I'll do my best for the next update. I have a few more updates that have accumulated on my other stories, like Carnivore and Opal Wings, and I'll be updating them soon (like the next couple days soon).

In regards to my open question on the previous chapter, I haven't moved yet (i've had a few messages about people worried that my silence this past month and a bit is because of that.). As stated, I've been copying some of my work onto Quotev . I haven't moved. But at the moment, it looks like if in the offchance that I do move, it WILL be onto Quotev, and to answer the other questions, when/if I move, that also means my updating here will stop. Because Moving means taking my stories and activity over to another platform, essentially "abandoning" here. Again, not happening yet, and if it does, trust me, I won' t be doing it without it being outlined clearly in all my books and across my page. You won't not be told.

*ahem*, anyways, our chapter notes:

Delivery Trauma - This will be explained in a supplement chapter I've almost finished (one of the updates I mentioned a few pages above.). You can use your imagination on this anyway, and  you might not be too far off lolol.

Bon'yari Shita - Translates as Dazed for obvious reasons, written as ぼんやりした in Japanese, if I'm not mistaken?

Anyways, all the best, guys~!

<3 Loki-Roki